PSP2

Welcome to this week's edition of the SlashGear Week in Review! If you are a PC hardware geek an AMD spokesman causally showed off an unannounced video card on Monday called the HD 6990. The card has dual GPUs and should be very fast. We heard a bit of early detail on the PSP2 from Nikkei that claimed the new portable would have an OLED touchscreen, 3G and a new CPU. That would make for a very impressive portable indeed.

If you can be sure of anything, it's that Sony will be pushing the NGP with its own particular brand of "wacky" trailers and adverts ahead of the next-generation console's release. The first example has arrived, and the poor NGP itself is little to be found; instead there's plenty of "inspiring" messages like "play life" and the suggestion that NGP gamers will be terribly social.

As expected, Sony has outed its "PSP2", currently codenamed the Sony next generation portable entertainment system or NGP, and expected to go on sale at the end of 2011. Based on a quad-core ARM Cortex A9 processor and Imagination Technologies PowerVR SGX543MP4+ GPU, the NGP has a 5-inch OLED 960 x 544 multitouch-capable touchscreen on the front and a multitouch pad on the back, for what Sony describes as "touch, grab, trace, push and pull" gestures in gameplay.

Further details on the upcoming Sony PSP2 have leaked, with the gaming handheld tipped to use an OLED touchscreen larger than the display on the current PSP. According to Nikkei, the PSP2 will have an integrated 3G modem along with WiFi; in Japan, Sony will use an NTT DoCoMo connection to enable mobile multiplayer gaming, download software, and watch movies.

Sony's imminent PlayStation plans - whether for the PSP2 or the PlayStation Phone - look even more solid, with Bloomberg reporting on sources that have apparently confirmed the firm's release schedule. According to sources, Sony will indeed announce the new PSP2 on January 27, followed by a MWC 2011 debut for the Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play (aka the PlayStation Phone).

Rumors regarding the upcoming, but still as of yet unannounced PSP2 may have all been knocked down a notch, when compared to this latest one. MCV is reporting that Sony is going around telling developers and publishers that the portable gaming system is just as every bit as powerful as the PlayStation 3 home video game console.

Sony is tipped to unveil its PSP2 portable console in an exclusive Tokyo event on January 27 2011, according to multiple sources. Both VG247 and MCV report tips that a "business overview and strategy meeting" has been scheduled for "very select press"; Sony itself has declined to comment on the speculation.

The mobile gaming market may not be as intense as the home console market, but there's obviously still a lot of money to be made within its reach. So there's no surprise that analysts would want to get their opinion out there about what's coming, and how they think it will affect the market as a whole. When it comes to Sony's PlayStation Portable 2, there's a lot of discussion about whether or not it will be a waste of time for Sony, or be a smash-hit. Obviously, Sony believes that they've got a hit on their hand, and even some developers out there who have managed to get some hands-on time with the portable gaming console think it's nice. But, for analyst Michael Pachter, none of that matters, because the PSP2 is already DOA.

While, traditionally, leaks of major cell phones, or smartphones, are marred by images taken by one "Mr. Blurrycam," it looks like that individual may have finally stumbled into another market. Here, supposedly, are the first images of what VG247 is calling the PSP2. And, as we can see from the images, there aren't a lot of details to be really seen, but we definitely can't deny those pair of thumbsticks there.

For a short time, the rumors regarding the second version of the traditional PlayStation Portable were picking up speed, which would lead some to believe that a spy photo would inevitably break cover before too long. But, that still hasn't happened, and in fact the rumors and speculation started to quiet down. We've heard in the past that the device was already in the hands of developers, that the PSP2 would feature a touch-pad on the back of the mobile console, and that it would not only feature a camera on the back, but also one on the front. These new rumors actually enforce a few we've heard in the past, but it looks like Sony isn't in any rush to get the new handheld gaming device to the market.